"Education isn't just about schoolwork. It's also about character," says TJ Adegbesan, founding CEO of gidimo. With funding from Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), Adegbesan leads a team that's helping instill moral, civic, and intellectual virtues in young people in Nigeria through gidimo's creative, interactive learning platform.
Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, with a median age of 19 years old, and 42% under the age of 15. The gidimo platform combines mastery, gamification, and social learning to drive educational achievement in a way that emphasizes the value of character strength while also appealing to the sensibilities and lifestyle of this new generation. Designed around "choice-based simulation," gidimo offers its users the opportunity to experience the impact of virtue, based on the decisions they make in a virtual world. The platform features rewards and challenges, as well as social interaction.
By making learning fun and relatable for these kids, Adegbesan says, "we can transform values from being some kind of boring thing they preach at young people," and instead demonstrate how traits like integrity, honesty, and sincerity can be the "seeds of future success."
To date, gidimo has delivered their product to over 300,000 people. With this grant from TWCF, Adegbesan looks forward to spreading its reach even further across Nigeria.
